Peter Weltman, Financial Accountability Officer of Ontario, has just released the report, Ontario Health Sector: 2019 Updated Assessment of Ontario Health Spending.

“In the coming years, Ontario’s growing and aging population, as well as rising prices for health care will put increased pressureon health spending” says Weltman. Under current policies, and without anticipating any new government decisions, health sector spending is projected to increase to $73.3 billion by the 2022-23 fiscal year, an increase of $12.0 billion from today’s levels.

In the 2018 Fall Economic Statement, the Province committed to balance the budget on a reasonable timetable without raising taxes. As the health sector comprises over 41 per cent of program spending, balancing the budget in four years time would require spending $8.6 billion less on health care by 2022-23 compared to the FAO’s status quo projection.

Restraining health sector spending to this extent without compromising health care access or quality would be a significant challenge. “Policy changes of this magnitude could have wide-ranging implications for Ontario’s health care system, and Ontarians would benefit from an informed debate on the Province’s budget objectives and the trade-offs necessary to achieve them,” says Weltman.